Steelmaking

Steelmaking is the mainline of AEM-Special Steels Plant having capacities to smelt up to 636 thousand tons of steel per year. Manufacturing capability of the metallurgical complex allows to make any kind of steel grades: carbon, low-alloy, alloyed, rotor, etc. In total, the complex can produce more than 300 steel grades. The quality of steel is ensured by secondary refining in steel degassing and refining plants.

Equipment

Arc steel furnace DSP-120
Description
The DSP-120 electric furnace is the key equipment for steelmaking.

After smelting in the furnace, the steel enters the ladle metallurgy facilities, where impurities are removed. After that, the metal is poured into ingots of various shapes, weights and purposes. The casting section is capable of producing ingots weighing up to 443 tons. To improve the quality of steel, the enterprise operates the largest in Europe electroslag and vacuum-arc remelting plants (ESR and VAR).

 


Characteristics
636 thousand tons - Volume of metal production per year

> 300 - Steel grade range

443 t - Maximum ingot weight

up to 6 - Number of heats per day

up to 120 t - Melting weight
Electroslag remelting furnace (ESR)
Description

To this day ESR furnace is the largest in Europe. It is used for remelting round or polyhedral consumable electrodes into billets. Electroslag remelt metal has no impurities and exhibits improved characteristics. It is used to manufacture products which shall meet stringent requirements for material quality : blanks for special shipbuilding projects, high-chromium rotors for supercritical steam parameters, etc.


Characteristics
Smelted ingot weight: 14 – 63 t

Smelted ingot diameter: 1.1 - 1.7 m

Capacity: 4,000 – 6,000 tons/year

Quality control methods

AEM-technologies places high demands on the quality of its products. The employees of the Izhora Scientific and Technical Company are responsible for quality control and materials science support of production. At various stages of product manufacturing, the specialists of the test center conduct the following studies:

  • - chemical analysis of metal;
  • - fractography;
  • - mechanical and corrosion tests;
  • - metallographic control;
  • - microanalysis;
  • - magneto- and dilatometry.

The quality of the metal is guaranteed by the use of out-of-furnace processing in steel degassing and refining plants. After smelting in the furnace, the steel enters the out-of-furnace processing units, where it gets rid of impurities. To improve the quality of the metal, the company uses the largest electroslag and vacuum-arc remelting plants in Europe.

Production and delivery of products are carried out according to ASTM, JIS, DIN, NFA, BS, etc. Metallurgical products are exported to China, India and other countries.